Veterans Service office seeks increase in staff hours

Citing an increasing workload county veterans service officer Sheila Wundrow is seeking to have her office be at 40 hours per week versus 35 hours. Currently the veterans service officer and the veterans service specialist are each set by county code to work 35 hours per week. Wundrow, who has been in her position in the county for more than two years, brought a request to increase the hours to the June 18 veterans service committee meeting. With the committee’s action to approve the request, it will go to the county’s finance and personnel committees for review. The veteran’s service office is funded through the local county levy and an annual state grant. That grant was increased from $11,688 to $13,750. In 2024, the office underspent its $199,445 budget by $35,900. Wundrow noted that at halfway through the year, the office is on pace to be about $18,650 below budget for the tax levy portion of the office. Increasing both positions to 40 hours per week would cost about $15,142 annually. If approved, the change would take place on September 1 and this would have a $5,445.40 impact to the office’s current budget. Increasing workloads and additional outreach opportunities were cited as major reasons for requesting the additional staff time. Wundrow noted that it takes about six hours from start to finish to do a veterans claim with the goal to complete three new claims per week in the office. In addition to the new claims, the office also assists veterans in other ways and serves as a conduit of information for them when they have benefits questions and to get information out about program changes and qualifications. Wundrow noted that while veterans are able to file their own claims, there is a higher rate of success when there is assistance. Committee member Nick Lemke agreed, noting that that the Veteran’s Administration often looks for specific wording in order to accept or deny a claim. Wundrow also noted that there is research that needs to take place when working on medical claims to connect the medical issues a veteran may be experiencing to eligible claims. “Neither myself nor Karyn are doctors, so it takes quite a while to understand what's in the medical records, we may have to Google what something is and then we have to read their service record to ensure that they may have had that,” Wundrow said. Wundrow also noted the increased time demands of having remote office hours in Gilman and Westboro. She said while these take time, they are also valuable as a way to make it easier for veterans from those areas to get claims started and to get information. Wundrow also noted there are outreach activities with the ADRC of Taylor County and other county agencies which are valuable for the office to be part of, but which require staff time away from the office. For example, they will be partnering with the ADRC and the health department for the “Fair Before the Fair” from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on July 16 where they will be providing outreach to veterans and their families. In addition to local obligations, Wundrow also deals with state and regional veterans topics and trainings. She noted that in July they will be participating with the state to do an event to account for any homeless veterans in the county in order to get them services. “The VA’s goal is to have all veterans off the street and housed,” she said, explaining that in rural areas, homeless can include those who stay on someone’s couch, at a campground, or in a hotel or car. “There’s many different versions of homeless,” she said. Wundrow noted that while the claims that are successful don’t directly bring cash into the county coffers, the claims benefits have a positive impact in the economy of the community. She said it gives veterans the ability to have more to spend at stores or places like the farmer’s markets. “It may not increase the Taylor County tax levy, but it will increase what’s being spent within Taylor County,” she said. Committee members unanimously agreed to support the additional hours for the veterans service department staff. It will ultimately take a change in county code and approval at the county board’s August meeting.